I am wondering if anyone has gone through the same thing and if you have any advice...

My son has had allergy symptoms since birth. He was stuffed up and had eczema (we had a dog and cats). He was plagued by Bronchiolitis, peumonia and croup for the first 6 months of daycare (starting at 1 year - he was home more than he was at daycare). We had allergy testing when he was 2 and it came back with no reactions (based on a pediatric panel) and was diagnosed with nonallergic rhinitis by the allergist (?? - seemed like a weird diagnosis). At 3.5 he started getting skin reactions to tomato sauce (he loved eating with his hands!). 3 months ago he had an asthma attack (or that's what I assume). He fell into a pile of hay at a farm, started wheezing and then 2 hours later had trouble breathing and panicked. We took him to the ER and he was almost back to normal when they saw him but we got ventolin just in case. He ended up needing it a couple of times through the night and continued to have troubles for 3 days after. About 2 months ago he ate some tomato and broke into hives all over his body. Last week he had tomato which resulted in eczema around his mouth. He continues to wheeze and cough a lot of the time, despite trying to limit the tomatoes.

After the asthma attack his pediatrician said yes it was an asthma attack. I had to ask about allergy testing (we have an appointment for 1 year from now). She didn't offer any information and I had no idea what questions to ask. After he broke out in hives I called to see if an appointment would be prudent. She said no, only if it happens again.

Am I being paranoid? Could this end up being more serious than what it has been? My mommy instincts are on high alert right now.
DH has celiac disease. Could it be that manifesting itself in DS1 with nontypical sypmtoms?

We have an appointment with my GP tomorrow and I am hoping that she will be able to give more information. I really am confused as to why this may not be as serious as my instincts say it is...

Trust your mommy instincts! You know your child, your family history and even if you can't place a finger on it, if you suspect something is up, it probably is.

Your appointment with the allergist is a year away but if you ask to be placed on the cancelation list, they will call you if an earlier appointment opens up. You may not have a lot of notice but chances are, you'll get in sooner.

I don't see any info regarding how old your child is, but as far as an asthma diagnosis, the formal diagnosis does not usually come until the child is 6-8 years old. It is at this age that the child is able to attempt the spirometry that makes the diagnosis. (I am an Asthma Educator, so I deal with confused Moms of toddlers almost daily). Many, many children have isolated episodes of wheezing that never really amount to much more than that, such as with a bad case of bronchiolitis (my daughter needed puffers when she was 2 for almost 2 months post-virus, but does not have asthma). However, when wheezing is reported along with allergy symptoms, that lends much more evidence towards an asthma diagnosis. By the time my son was 4, the doctors were able to call it asthma just based in the symptom history. This was confirmed by his 1st set of spirometry when he was 7 years old, however, he has not needed any real intervention for his asthma in years because by the time he was 4 we were very compliant with his preventer inhalers.

So don't worry if doctors aren't willing to go out on a limb with a diagnosis just yet ... it can take several years for a pattern of symptoms to develop. My son had known allergies to food 2 years before his 1st set of skin tests! His 1st anaphylaxis wasn't until he was 4, so that was when he got his 1st Epi, despite several mild reactions when he was a toddler. I think many of us have similar stories - what looked like mild allergies during the toddler years turned out to be either nothing at all, or turned into anaphylaxis later. Waiting is hard, but most people are told to just avoid those foods until you know for sure. You've seen the pattern with tomatoes, so avoid them. Otherwise, time really is helpful for the doctors in these cases - until such a time as the child is able to do spirometry ... which is not easy, even for adults!

Thanks for your replies! My GP said the same thing as you, Momtobunches, and she gave us a bit of a plan to follow as well as a referral to the asthma clinic. It turns out that what I assumed was mild symptoms with no requirement to do anything, is very likely uncontrolled asthma, which is not something the ped explained. The issue with the pediatrician isn't necessarily the fact that she did nothing, it was that she didn't explain anything, even a plan to follow, which seems a bit irresponsible on her part.

My son is 4.5 and has allergy symptoms from birth, so I know that he is allergic, but I don't know everything that we need to avoid (except tomatoes). I do feel a lot better that we don't have too much to worry about and that we have a plan to follow.

she gave us a bit of a plan to follow as well as a referral to the asthma clinic .... turns out to be uncontrolled asthma.

Great to hear your GP is on the case! Def. get that asthma controlled, and do have him use the meds.
Uncontrolled asthma can lead to a serious attack, and even damage to the lungs.
The sooner little fella can get contol, the better he'll feel.

FYI, I still hope you get the allergist appt. - sooner or later. Both to officially know about the severity of the tomato allergy and because of the hay reaction, which may be an environmental allergy. 3/4 of asthma is a form of allergic reaction.

I was violently allergic to hay (and horses) as a kid. At 12 on (with better GP), got allergy shots - which really helped.

Fingers crossed for your boy with the asthma control. But good job and good instincts, Mom.

So what can I expect with the meds (steroid inhaler)? We've been using them for a few days now and his cough seems worse. Could it be coincidence or a potential reaction to the steroid or just his body getting used to the medication? I realize that it take 1 to 4 weeks to work, so I wasn't expecting any change... Maybe it's me being even more in tune to it than I was before

When we hear the word steroids, we tend to think of muscle men and we know that anabolic steroids can have health issues but that is a different type of steroid. Asthma treatment uses corticosteroids. Rather than have the medication travel through out the body, it is delivered directly to the affected organs, the lungs. http://www.asthma.ca/adults/treatment/steroids.php

Personally, we generally see an improvement within 3 weeks. We've been dealing with asthma for 8 years now so we (with dd's Dr's permission) increase her controller meds (corticosteroids) at the first sign of a cold. We don't wait for it to get bad so there is less inflamation, ect to over come.

Asthma is a lot like driving standard...it takes some time to get comfortable in knowing whne to shift gears.

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